Money raised by Sport Relief goes directly to help disadvantaged young people both in the UK, and around the world. Overseas, Sport Relief money supports kids forced to live really tough lives in some of the poorest countries in the world by helping them get an education, stay healthy, find families to love them and avoid the horrors of war.The three projects featured on the programme are just examples of the ways in which Sport Relief use your money to make a real difference to people's lives. Here's some background on each of them:

In India, Patrick Kielty met Vijay, who's being helped by The Railway Children Federation (RCF)

There’s up to 200,000 street children living in each of India’s main cities. Having left home because of poverty, family breakdown or the death of a parent, children find themselves on the streets alone and vulnerable to abuse. Many live around India’s railway stations and lines.

Wherever possible, The RCF tries to reunite street children with their extended families. They also provide them with vital shelter, food and healthcare, and offer them basic education. One of the ways The RCF will use Sport Relief money is to extend a night shelter for young girls who otherwise sleep near a shrine or red light area opposite the station in Calcutta. RCF also want to offer special support to disabled street children and those living with HIV.

Patrick says: "The first few days of the trip was spent in Calcutta seeing just what these kids have to do to survive. We met a young lad who spends all day every day collecting plastic bottles amongst the filth and the rubbish. He needed to get a whole kilo bag full to get 6 rupees, which is about a penny.

"One of the girls we saw, she must have been no older than eight, was selling lemons to passengers on buses. She was darting in and out of moving traffic in the heart of the hustle and bustle of Kolkata - the noise and the fumes were something else, and there she was having to jump on and off these moving buses to make enough money to buy food.

"You look at these kids and you just want to take them out of all of that, but we're talking about thousands of youngsters here. That's where the projects that Sport Relief fund come in. They give these kids shelter, food and the chance of an education, the chance of a way out.”

Victoria Beckham met Dinah in Peru, who is receiving help from ADEVI

ADEVI works to support child labourers and their families who work in the brickmaking quarries on the outskirts of Lima, the capital city. Education is provided for children and young people, reducing the financial burden on the family. Labourers receive support in order that they may improve their conditions, and ADEVI works closely with the families providing them with training in new skills and assisting them to set up income generation schemes and to find less hazardous employment. By doing this, families' incomes are raised so children no longer have to work in the quarries. ChildHope UK helps in a number of ways - through financial support, technical input, training, and project design and management in an effort to reduce levels of harmful child labour through enabling children to access their rights.

The project also helps another organisation, Proceso Social, who work with the recycling community of Las Lomas de Carabayllo where families are struggling with extreme poverty and in hazardous environments, by helping them develop their own community. Proceso Social will help to educate members of the community so that they can increase their awareness of their rights, and develop leadership and advocacy skills, which can help them to address their needs and the needs of their children. By working in partnership with local schools and after school clubs, schools can better meet the educational needs of child labourers. Ultimately, these efforts ensure that children and their families work and live in safer environments, and that children receive the education they deserve.

Victoria says: “I felt really privileged when Sport Relief invited me to go to Peru to visit one of their projects. I've never experienced anything like it. The poverty that people face everyday is unbelievable. To Dinah it’s just part of normal everyday life and her positive outlook stays strong in spite of the difficult circumstances.”

“As a mother, to see children living with these challenges every day is heartbreaking but they continue to remain upbeat. To witness the struggles of one family first hand and spend time with them has been unforgettable. By doing this film piece I hope to raise awareness for these types of issues and help to raise money for Sport Relief, and, in turn help people like Dinah head towards a brighter future.”

Nick Knowles travelled to Zambia to meet Joseph, the eleven year old head of a family affected by AIDS. He's being helped by the Archdiocese of Lusaka and CAFOD

The Archdiocese and CAFOD manage a Home Based Care Programme which helps the sick and the dying and supports the thousands of ‘aids orphans’ they leave behind.

Joseph is desperate to get an education because he knows it’s the only way he’ll be able to get a job and support his siblings as they grow up. So he goes to school whenever he can but a large part of his day is trying to earn money and caring for his little family.

The Archdiocese of Lusaka is helping to ensure that Joseph - and so many other children with all the responsibilities of little Mums and Dads - get an education and so they have a chance of a better future. Money raised by Sport Relief could help this work continue.

Healthlink Worldwide are working with Nigerian children in a similar postion to Joseph

In Nigeria, the number of people with HIV is growing at a staggering rate - as many as 1 in 10 are now living with the virus. Often, it’s not just one but both parents who die from AIDS, leaving millions of children orphaned across Africa's most populated country. Many are even left without any relatives at all and are left to face discrimination from those who are ignorant of the reality of HIV/ AIDS. Building on the innovative and inspired 'memory book' project that was started in Uganda, Healthlink Worldwide will pilot and replicate the model in 20 villages across Nigeria. Mothers and fathers who are HIV positive will be given emotional support when they tell their families about their status and they will be offered help to plan for their children’s future. Memory books will be used to store precious family histories and vital information for their children. For parents memory books are vital. They help families prepare in a positive way for their death, which is inevitable no matter what care, support and treatment they receive. This has proven absolutely essential in helping children to cope with the death of a parent.

With the Sport Relief grant, Healthlink will continue to support children and their parents who are living with and dying from HIV/ AIDS and tackling the discrimination associated with the disease in their community.

Nick says “I thought I was at least a little prepared for what I would see in Zambia.

“While doing City Hospital I’ve spent time with patients who know they are dying, families who know that this will be their last Christmas with their loved one, but the reality of what millions are going through in Zambia, especially the country’s children, was on a level that I could never have imagined.

“We need to help Sport Relief and the projects it supports. It’s not just about giving them food, which they need, - but giving them education, support and care.”

Sport Relief also works in the UK, funding projects that use sport to change lives in many different ways. Sport has the power to unite communities divided by fear, violence and tension; enable people with shattered lives to regain their confidence and for many, taking part in sport can break the cycle of loneliness and isolation.

In the UK...
In addition to the great work being done overseas, Sport Relief money also helps young people in the United Kingdom. Amongst the UK projects supported by Sport Relief are Glasgow's FARE, bringing sports to the children on Easterhouse Estate; the Future Youth Games in Belfast; Fitzrovia Youth in Action, using sports to bridge divides in one of the most polarized parts of London; and Restart Cardiff, uniting two halves of the second largest housing estates in Europe.